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6717 Sec. 18. Unsatisfactory division of property.—Whenever a district is dissatisfied with the division of school property made by the county superintendent, the points in dispute may be referred to three disinterested persons, no one of whom shall be a resident of either district interested in the matter at issue, one to be chosen by the school board of each district, and these two to choose a third, and the decision of any two of them shall be final.

6718 Sec. 19. Arbitration.-The manner of proceeding shall be substantially as follows: The district desiring an arbitration shall make a demand in writing of the county superintendent within ten days after the superintendent has made his award. The county superintendent shall notify the other district or districts, and direct them to choose arbitrators. The county superintendent shall appoint a time and place for the hearing, at which the arbitrators shall proceed immediately to hear and determine the matter at issue according to justice and right, taking all the circumstances into consideration.

6719 Sec. 20.

Award final.-The award of arbitrators shall be in writing and shall be filed with the county superintendent, and shall be final; Provided, if no award is made by the committee within thirty days from the day of arbitration, the division made by the county superintendent shall be legal and valid.

6720 Sec. 21. Arbritrators' fees.-The fees of such arbitrators shall be as follows: Each person engaged as arbitrator shall receive two dollors per day during the time necessarily occupied, to be paid equally by the districts.

6721 Sec. 22. District in two counties. When persons living in two or more counties desire to form a school district, it shall be the duty of the superintendents of the respective counties to authorize the persons to organize such district, and the reports contemplated in this chapter shall be made to the superintendents of each county, parts of which form the district, of such property or children as may be within the limits of each such organized county.

6722 Sec. 23. Depopulated districts.-In case the number of legal voters in any district becomes less than three, the county superintendent shall act as the third officer of such district.

6723 Sec. 24. Same-annexation to adjoining districts. When for a continuous period of one year a district shall have less than two legal voters residing therein, the county superintendent may, in his discretion, annex the the district to one or more adjoining districts, upon petitions signed by a majority of the legal voters of such adjoining district or districts; Provided, if any school district shall, for two consecutive years, fail to maintain a public school, as required by law to do, it shall be the duty of the county superintendent of the county in which such district lies, to attach the territory of such district to one or more adjoining school districts.

6724 Sec. 25. Closing up affairs of same. When for a continuous period of one year a district shall have less than two legal voters residing therein, who for a period of two consecutive years shall fail or neglect to maintain its district organization, it shall be lawful, upon a petition being

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presented for that purpose by the resident voter of said district, or by the county superintendent of the county in which the district is situated, for any court of competent jurisdiction of such county to authorize the county superintendent of the county in which such district is located to close up the affairs of said district. Twenty days previous to any action on the part of the county superintendent notice of such action on the part of the court shall be made public in some legal newspaper circulating in such county. The said county superintendent thus authorized shall have power, and it shall be his duty to take possession of all school property belonging to such district. If there be funds belonging to the district in the hands of the county treasurer, the county superintendent shall proceed to pay off the indebtedness of the district, issuing orders upon the county treasurer for the payment of such indebtedness. If there be no funds in the hands of the county treasurer to the credit of the district, the county superintendent shall, on order of the court, advertise and sell at public auction the school property of said district, placing the money thus obtained in the hands of the county tresaurer to the credit of the aforesaid district, and issue orders upon it as above.

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6725 Sec. 26. Debts-taxes. If any indebtedness still remain paid, the county board of the county shall determine the rate of taxation necessary to pay such indebtedness, and shall cause such taxes to be levied upon all property in the district and collected as other taxes.

6726 Sec. 27. Superintendent-bond. Before entering upon such duties, the county superintendent shall execute a good and sufficient bond to the people of the State of Nebraska, to be approved by the judge of the court, in double the amount of the value of all property which in the opinion of the court shall be entrusted to his care.

6727 Sec. 28. Same-report. It shall be the duty of the county superintendent to file an itemized report in said court, showing the disposition of all property and money received by him in the transaction, and such report shall be a part of the official records of the court.

6728 Sec. 29. Same compensation. For performing the duties hereby imposed, it shall be lawful for the court to award to the county superintendent such compensation as in its judgement shall be just and right; and such amount and costs of court shall be a claim against the district.

6729 Sec. 30. Districts containing three or less sections of land.When any school district has only three sections of land or less than three sections of land the county superintendent, county clerk and county board shall have authority and it shall be their duty, upon petition of the district board or board of education of such school district, to make such changes in the boundaries of such district and of any or all districts continguous thereto as in their judgment will be just and equitable.

Sec. 30a. Districts containing less than six sections of land. That when any school district, which maintains a graded school of not less than ten regular grades, contains less than six sections of land, the county superintendent, county clerk and county board shall have authority, and it shall be their duty, upon petition of the district board or board of education of such school

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district, to make such changes in the boundaries of said district and of all districts contiguous thereto as, in their judgment, will be just and equitable.

6730 Sec. 31. Annual meeting. The annual school meeting of each school district shall be held at the schoolhouse, if there be one, or at some other suitable place within the district, on the second Monday of June of each year. The officers elected as hereinafter provided shall take possession of the office to which they have been elected upon the second Monday of July, and the school year shall commence with that day.

No authority to adjourn election. 15 Neb., 447. Cited 33 Id., 335. See, also, 32, Id., 370.

6731 Sec. 32. Special meetings.-Special meetings may be called by the district board, or any one of them, on the written request of any five legal voters of the district, by giving the notice required in the next succeeding section; and in all notices of special meetings the object of the meeting shall be stated, and no business shall be transacted at such meetings except such as is mentioned in the call.

Upon the presentation of a petition signed by five legal voters of the district, the board at their discretion, or any member of the board, may call a special meeting by posting the proper notices. However, it is not obligatory upon the members of the board to call such a meeting.

A special school district meeting has no authority to determine the length of school to be held in the district the ensuing year, nor to determine at what time in the year such term shall be held. The legal action of the annual meeting upon these subjects is final.

In case a district has no school officers, the county superintendent should call a special meeting for the election of school officers upon the petition of five legal voters of said district. In case there are not five legal voters in said district, then every legal voter should sign the petition for a special meeting. If said voters should refuse to sign such petition, then the county superintendent should apply to the district court for a writ of mandamus to compel such voters to make legal provision for school in such district.

A majority of the legal voters of a district, at a special meeting, may re-consider their previous action at a special meeting.

Questions which can be determined only at an annual meeting cannot be changed at a special meeting.

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No business can be transacted at a special district meeting except that specified in the call for said meeting; but the fact of doing business not mentioned in the call does not invalidate action with reference to business which was specified in the call.

The names of the five persons who made the request for the call should be recorded in the minutes. The district officers may constitute three of the five. When a special meeting adjourns to another time, new notices should be put up; but a failure to do this would not render the adjourned meeting illegal.

An annual or special meeting held in the evening (after night) would not be illegal. One copy of the notice of school district meetings should be posted upon the schoolhouse door.

6732 Sec. 33. Notice of meetings. All notices of annual or special meetings, after the first meeting has been held as hereinbefore provided, shall state the day, hour and place of meeting, which place shall be within the district, and shall be given at least fifteen days previous to such meeting, by posting up copies thereof in three public places within the district; but no annual meeting shall be deemed illegal for want of such notice. No schoolhouse site shall be changed nor taxes voted for building, purchase or lease of a schoolhouse at any district meeting unless notices shall have been given of such meeting as above provided, including therein the fact that such subjects will then be considered.

The official certificate of the director of a school district that notice of a certain special school meeting held in said district was given by posting up notices of said meeting twenty days before the holding thereof, in three of the most public places in said district, which certificate was introduced and received in evidence under a stipulation of parties, in which it was recited that such "stipulation is for the purpose of using the same as testimony, instead of the plaintiff or defendant being obliged to take depositions to prove the same, held, to be evidence of the due publication of the notice of the calling of such special school meeting. 21 Neb., 725.

6733 Sec. 34. Qualifications of voters.—Every person, male or female, who has resided in the district forty days and is twenty-one years old and who owns real property or personal property that was assessed in the district in his or her name at the last annual assessment, or who has children of school age residing in the district, shall be entitled to vote at any district meeting or school election held in any district, village, or city; Provided, all electors at school elections held in cities where registration of voters is required shall comply with the provisions of such registration law before they shall be entitled to vote.

*A person who owned property in a school district on April 1 preceding the election, which property was subject to assessment, has the property qualification for a voter at school election.

Penalty for illegal voting.-This act provided that any person who shall vote in any school district in this state in which he has not actually resided ten days, or such length of time as required by law, next preceding the election, or into which he shall have come for temporary purposes merely, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than twenty-five ($25) du lars or more than one hundred ($100) dollars, or be imprisoned in the jail of the proper county not more than six months.

Any person who has resided in the district forty days and is twenty-one years old, and who owns personal property that was assessed in the district in his or her own name at the last annual assessment, is entitled to vote at any district meeting. The law places no limit as to the amount of taxable property necessary to entitle the holder to vote. The chairman of the meeting has no right to demand the production of tax receipts by persons offering to vote.

The ownership of real property, which confers the right to vote at a district meeting, must be an actual and present ownership such as would entitle the voter to the use and control of the property in question. A prospective or contingent right, like that of dower or curtesy, would not constitute such ownership as this statute requires. Important recent decisions of our supreme court declare the right of dower to be a "charge or incumbrance" upon the property, similar in its effect to a mortgage or lien. This, however, would not entitle the holder of such a right to be considered as a voter, any more than would the holding of a mortgage confer such a right upon the mortgagee. Therefore, a wife who has no children of school age and owns no real property in her own name and no personal property assessed in her name at the last annual assassment, would not become a legal voter by virtue of her husband's ownership of such property, although she possesses the requisite qualifications of age and residence; nor would the husband become a voter simply by virtue of his wife's owner ship of such property.

The courts have repeatedly held that a homesteader is a "freeholder" within the mean *The decisions under section 34 are decisions which apply to all school districts.

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ing of that term as used elsewhere in the statutes. This clearly implies ownership of the land such as would entitle him to vote at an annual meeting under the statutory provision embraced in the words "who owns real property in the district."

A young lady twenty-one years of age who holds a homestead is a voter at the annual meeting.

The homesteader votes in the district of his homestead, and not in the district in which he may be temporarily working.

"Any person who shall vote in any school district in this state in which he has not legally resided ten days, or such length of time as required by law, next preceding the election, or into which he shall have come for temporary purposes merely, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the jail of the proper county not more than six months." Section 7846, Criminal Code, Compiled Statutes of Nebraska for 1903.

A person living in unorganized territory has no vote at school meetings in any district by reason of having property in said district. Residence is one of the qualifications necessary to be a voter.

A person having all the necessary qualifications to vote at an annual school district meeting may not be debarred from voting from the fact that he was not in the district the prescribed number of days just preceding the election, when it was known that he was out of the district temporarily and that his permanent home is in the district.

Section 6427 confers upon women having the necessary qualifications the right to vote at any school district meeting or school election held in any district, village or city. This statute also confers upon women possessing such qualifications the right to vote at primaries held in cities for the nomination of members of boards of education.

An alien, male or female, who possesses all of the qualifications relative to age, residence and ownership of property, or having children of school age, is a voter. The matter of being an alien does not enter into the question.

To acquire a domicile or residence in a school district, two things are necessary: the fact of a residence in a place, and the intent to make it a home. A domicile or residence once acquired remains until a new one is acquired. Mere intention to remove without the fact of removing will not change the domicile; nor will the fact of removal without the intention to change the residence. A person once established in any place, the presumption of residence continues unless rebutted, and the burden of proof is upon the party alleging the same.

In general, where a man lives or claims his home, and where he enjoys the privilege of a resident citizen, may be considered his place of residence. In all cases a man must prove his intention as to the place of his residence; if he removes his family and goods from the district, and it can be proved that he intends to claim his residence in some other place, he is no longer a resident of the district. A homesteader can have no residence except in the district in which his homestead is located. Justice Maxwell says: "That place will be considered the residence of the person in which his habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom, and to which, whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning."

Women may vote and hold office in school districts. 15 Neb. 477.

6734 Sec. 35. Challenge oath.-If any person offering to vote at a school district meeting shall be challenged as unqualified by any legal voter in such district, the chairman presiding at such meeting shall declare to the person challenged the qualifications of a voter, and if such person shall state that he or she is qualified, and the challenge shall not be withdrawn, the said chairman shall administer to him or her an oath in substance as follows: "You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you are twenty-one years of age, that you resided in this school district for forty days last past, that you own real property in the district, or personal property that was assessed in your name at the last assessment or have children of school age residing in the district, so help you God." And every person taking such oath shall be permitted to vote on all questions proposed at such meeting.

6735 Sec. 36. Perjury. If any person so challenged shall refuse to take such oath, his or her vote shall be rejected, and any person who shall wilfully take a false oath, or make a false affirmation under the provisions of the preceding section shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and be punished accordingly.

6736 Sec. 37.

Challenge to viva voce vote.-When any question is taken in any other manner than by ballot, a challenge immediately after the vote has been taken, and previous to an announcement of the vote by the